The Dance
by Coral
Summary: Q explains...


The Dance  
By Coral  
Disclaimer: Trek Is Paramount.  
  
  
They say all the world's a stage.   
They're wrong.   
The world - and the multiverse, come to that - is a Dance, a great cosmic country Dance in which two people are drawn together for the briefest of instants, then torn apart as the Dance sweeps them off in another direction, tossed mercilessly into another part of the whirlwind Dance that is reality. Lesser species - being lesser - don't see this, but instead cling to the antiquated notion of free will. They actually still believe they control their destiny, if you can believe it. And, as for the ones who still believe in a heavenly, supreme being...   
Well, they're right. But not many cultures make him out to be a cowboy caller with a dodgy microphone, leading the universe in its manic Dance. Of course, like any of the pale imitations hald on Earth (it's a genetic memory - how else can you explain barn dances?), people are continually falling out of step, or falling over completely.   
You may know this phenomonon as "death". Immortals are just very good dancers.   
The beauty of this seeming choas is the fact that it is actually rather organised. Events don't happen at random, they follow on from the original first moves of The Dance. This means that a Q, who can see the whole Dance for what it is, can often find many amusing events.   
Those two, for example. Kathy and Chuckles. The Dance that brought them together for the past seven years is about to rip them cruelly apart. the rather humorous twist in the whole thing is that Kathy only accepted the fact that maybe she and Chuckles could be "partners in The Dance" yesterday. Not, of course, that she thought of it in that way; in fact, I believe her exact thoughts were something about pursuing a relationship.   
But I digress.   
There's a rock right in their path, the path that The Dance dictates And tomorrow (in human term, of course - tomorrow has no meaning in The Dance; it just is), Chakotay is going to stumble on that rock, and fall. Out for the count, lights extinguished - let's make no bones about it: dead. Stone cold.   
Sad, mais c'est le vie.   
Kathy, of course, won't see it that way. She will spend a long time at his side in an attempt to come to terms with the shock she's received. In doing so she will allow the Borg - who have been wending their way across the metaphorical Dance floor for four years now - to finally catch up with her and the rest of the Voyager Dancers.   
It probably won't come as a surprise to you to learn that the Borg are *bad* dancers. They are constantly knocking people over, or bumping into groups and splitting them up, dragging new people along with them (I believe the quaint mortal term is "Assimilation"). Suffice to say, the Borg are never going to win any dance competitions.   
Unless we get to the Monster Stomp.   
Oh, look! It's happening! Chakotay's about to stumble on that rock! Of course, it doesn't look like a rock to him. He's going to go the way he was always meant to - a fiery shuttle crash.   
Smack, bang wallop... nothing like a shuttle crash to provide a pretty (if brief) pyrotechnical display for a bored immortal.   
Oh, look.. his last tortured breaths... he's apologising for crashing another shuttle... she's telling him to stop being so stupid and to save his breath... he's saying it's useless... he's blaming himself, even while refusing to believe he can die.   
It's all in The Dance. It's all preordained. Of course he can die.   
Awww.. how sweet. Now she's crying. I think she's trying to tell him how she feels.   
Oh. Too late, Kathy. He's stopped breathing. Guess he'll never know now.   
Dammit, Kathy, don't look like that. I'm getting weak in my old age. Pathetic. I can't even resist one small starship Captain any more.   
Dammit.   
There, Kathy? Better? he's breathing now. I guess you'll never know why, either. The Doctor will class it "surprising" and "unexpected". If you tell Tuvok, you may even get a "fascinating" to add. Chakotay may even attribute it to his Sky Spirits.   
In the end, though, it doesn't matter. You'll get your second chance, which is more than you deserved.   



End file.
